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Facebook. It can be a very effective way to obtain new clients and to communicate with prospects and clients. So it makes sense to use it properly.

The past few years, I've noticed more financial planning businesses signing up on Facebook and starting to use it to attract new clients. Yet most of them make the same mistake — one that is costing them clients.

Do you know what they're doing wrong?

I see the "Find Us On Facebook" image a lot in marketing material for businesses. I see it on the back of buses and cars. In direct mail.

The problem with this is that you're telling your audience to "find" or "like" you on Facebook, but you're not giving them a direct link to your Facebook page. You're actually inviting them to go to Facebook and search for your business page. What if they can't find it? What if the business page name is different than your trading name? What if they find a competitor's page instead and decide to like that instead?

The idea is great: Get people to connect with you on social media platforms. The problem is in the execution. You're leaving too much to chance.

My suggestion is that instead of using the "Like Us On Facebook" image on your advertising material, you actually include the Facebook link. And remember, you don't need the "www" part of the link, either. Just write it as "Facebook.com/PageAddress."

By all means, put a Facebook logo next to it so it gets people's attention, but make sure they can see the actual URL.

It's a bit simpler if you're doing this online. If you want to put something on your website, then you could try a "Click Here To Like Us On Facebook" image and link the image directly to your Facebook page.

Another option is to buy a new domain name and re-direct that URL to your Facebook page. So, I could buy "www.AllanOnFacebook.com" and set up that URL to re-direct to my Facebook page. I don't need to have a website set up — I can just re-direct that URL. So, my clients only need to remember that one URL.

Action

Go over all your marketing material and see if you're making this mistake. If you are, correct it. If you're going to promote Facebook, make sure you're getting some benefit from it.

Your thoughts? Do you have a Facebook page for your business? Do you get many likes on that page? What help do you need when it comes to Facebook pages? Please leave a comment below.

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About the Author

I'm a financial planner running my own practice in Adelaide, South Australia. I started in the industry in 1995, spent some time planning then moved into management roles for a few years. In 2007 (just before the GFC!) I returned to financial planning, setting up my own business - Impact Financia... More